193
TRIBUTE TO VIVIAN CHANG, M.D.* DAVID HARRIS, M.D., M.P.H. Chairman, The Committee on Public Health The New York Academy of Medicine New York, New York Commissioner of Health Suffolk, New York
B EFORE WE TURN TO THE WORK at hand, pause with me just a little while, and hear of one who is not with us today. On October 8th of last year, in the early hours of a Sunday morning, Dr. Vivian Chang died. She had left the wedding of a friend in Philadelphia the evening before to drive to Washington -just to see the complete "AIDS Quilt." This was the last time the quilt was to be displayed in its totality, and tired though she was, Vivian felt she just had to see it. That trip, squeezed into her typically crowded schedule, was Vivian's quiet expression of the love and concern she felt. That trip was her last. Just south of Wilmington, Delaware on Interstate Highway 95, her vehicle struck a median barrier and was deflected into a head-on collision with a light pole. Vivian died of the injuries sustained. That day public health lost one of its finest. Those of us who had the good luck to work with her know full well the depth of that loss. Many of her colleagues and dear friends are here in this room. But how can we tell you, who had not been privileged to know her, of Vivian Chang? How in few words to describe the spirit and quality of this remarkable woman? How to capture the essence of Dr. Vivian Chang? The facts of her life are simply told: Dr. Vivian Chang was born in Shanghai in 1931 and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1955 and earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California (Berkeley) in 1969. Trained in internal medicine, Dr. Chang joined the Public Health Service in 1964 as a Peace Corps physician. Her career with the Public Health Service was a brilliant one, crowded with achievement and a series of challenging assignments. In 1978 she attained the rank of Rear Admiral. In *Presented as part of a Symposium on Pregnancy and Substance Abuse: Perspectives and Directions held by the Committee on Public Health of the New York Academy of Medicine, the Medical and Health Research Association of New York City, Columbia University School of Public Health, the Maternal and Child Health Program of the New York County Medical Society, the Greater New York March of Dimes, and Agenda for Children Tomorrow March 22, 1990 at the New York Academy of Medicine
Vol. 67, No. 3, May-June 1991
194
D. HARRIS 194D.
VIVIAN CHANG, M.D. 1984 she was appointed Health Administrator of Region II and stationed in New York, the post in which she served at her death. Bull. N.Y. Acad. Med.
VIVIAN CHANG, M.D.
VIVIAN
CHANG,
M
195 195
There are the facts of her life simply told. Not so simply told are her humanity, her caring, her untiring devotion to the welfare of the poor, of minorities, of the dispossessed. Her willingness to tackle the toughest of tough problems and her remarkable success in developing medical care programs for refugees, AIDS patients, the homeless. Vivian Chang was not married, she had no children, and yet in a sense every child in need was hers. Health programs for mothers and children had no stronger or more unwavering advocate. Those who knew Vivian still talk of her gentleness, her openness, and her creative persistence. Once, to focus the attention of Central Office Washington, D.C. staff on the terrible impact of AIDS on women, especially poor women of the inner city, she organized and arranged a visit to New York City by the Public Health Service's Womens' AIDS Task Force. The Task Force was scheduled to visit sites in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. Over the objections of others, Vivian insisted that the van transporting the visitors pass through the very worst areas of the city so that the full impact of social decay could be observed and felt by the group. Because these areas were so drug infested and so dangerous, the van rental company assigned a driver who was a retired police officer and who carried a hand gun. The Task Force did not miss the point Vivian was trying to make. Vivian Chang possessed incredible energy. Her work day knew no end, and yet she always found time for her friends and family. Her staff still tell how Vivian would often fly back to New York City after a visit to her 90-year-old mother in Salt Lake City, stop off at home to change and be in the office early, ready to go, with no more sleep than she managed to catch on the plane. She was an indefatigable advocate for the causes she believed in. She seemed to be everywhere and involved in everything, in every important health care issue in this region. One of the many projects she was working on at her death was this very conference. More than anything else, Vivian Chang was a gentle person-a caring person. I asked one of her close associates about Vivian Chang. His words are as close a summation as ever I could devise. He said, "Vivian made a difference, a difference in the lives of all she touched, she took her greatest joy in life from helping others and she asked nothing in return. She was short in a stature but Vivian Chang had the heart of a giant." Her work untrimmed, she is gone. That great heart is stilled, but we remember Vivian Chang. It is to her memory this conference is dedicated. I think she would be pleased. Vol. 67, No. 3, May-June 1991
TRIBUTE TO VIVIAN CHANG, M.D.* DAVID HARRIS, M.D., M.P.H. Chairman, The Committee on Public Health The New York Academy of Medicine New York, New York Commissioner of Health Suffolk, New York
B EFORE WE TURN TO THE WORK at hand, pause with me just a little while, and hear of one who is not with us today. On October 8th of last year, in the early hours of a Sunday morning, Dr. Vivian Chang died. She had left the wedding of a friend in Philadelphia the evening before to drive to Washington -just to see the complete "AIDS Quilt." This was the last time the quilt was to be displayed in its totality, and tired though she was, Vivian felt she just had to see it. That trip, squeezed into her typically crowded schedule, was Vivian's quiet expression of the love and concern she felt. That trip was her last. Just south of Wilmington, Delaware on Interstate Highway 95, her vehicle struck a median barrier and was deflected into a head-on collision with a light pole. Vivian died of the injuries sustained. That day public health lost one of its finest. Those of us who had the good luck to work with her know full well the depth of that loss. Many of her colleagues and dear friends are here in this room. But how can we tell you, who had not been privileged to know her, of Vivian Chang? How in few words to describe the spirit and quality of this remarkable woman? How to capture the essence of Dr. Vivian Chang? The facts of her life are simply told: Dr. Vivian Chang was born in Shanghai in 1931 and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. She graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1955 and earned a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California (Berkeley) in 1969. Trained in internal medicine, Dr. Chang joined the Public Health Service in 1964 as a Peace Corps physician. Her career with the Public Health Service was a brilliant one, crowded with achievement and a series of challenging assignments. In 1978 she attained the rank of Rear Admiral. In *Presented as part of a Symposium on Pregnancy and Substance Abuse: Perspectives and Directions held by the Committee on Public Health of the New York Academy of Medicine, the Medical and Health Research Association of New York City, Columbia University School of Public Health, the Maternal and Child Health Program of the New York County Medical Society, the Greater New York March of Dimes, and Agenda for Children Tomorrow March 22, 1990 at the New York Academy of Medicine
Vol. 67, No. 3, May-June 1991
194
D. HARRIS 194D.
VIVIAN CHANG, M.D. 1984 she was appointed Health Administrator of Region II and stationed in New York, the post in which she served at her death. Bull. N.Y. Acad. Med.
VIVIAN CHANG, M.D.
VIVIAN
CHANG,
M
195 195
There are the facts of her life simply told. Not so simply told are her humanity, her caring, her untiring devotion to the welfare of the poor, of minorities, of the dispossessed. Her willingness to tackle the toughest of tough problems and her remarkable success in developing medical care programs for refugees, AIDS patients, the homeless. Vivian Chang was not married, she had no children, and yet in a sense every child in need was hers. Health programs for mothers and children had no stronger or more unwavering advocate. Those who knew Vivian still talk of her gentleness, her openness, and her creative persistence. Once, to focus the attention of Central Office Washington, D.C. staff on the terrible impact of AIDS on women, especially poor women of the inner city, she organized and arranged a visit to New York City by the Public Health Service's Womens' AIDS Task Force. The Task Force was scheduled to visit sites in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. Over the objections of others, Vivian insisted that the van transporting the visitors pass through the very worst areas of the city so that the full impact of social decay could be observed and felt by the group. Because these areas were so drug infested and so dangerous, the van rental company assigned a driver who was a retired police officer and who carried a hand gun. The Task Force did not miss the point Vivian was trying to make. Vivian Chang possessed incredible energy. Her work day knew no end, and yet she always found time for her friends and family. Her staff still tell how Vivian would often fly back to New York City after a visit to her 90-year-old mother in Salt Lake City, stop off at home to change and be in the office early, ready to go, with no more sleep than she managed to catch on the plane. She was an indefatigable advocate for the causes she believed in. She seemed to be everywhere and involved in everything, in every important health care issue in this region. One of the many projects she was working on at her death was this very conference. More than anything else, Vivian Chang was a gentle person-a caring person. I asked one of her close associates about Vivian Chang. His words are as close a summation as ever I could devise. He said, "Vivian made a difference, a difference in the lives of all she touched, she took her greatest joy in life from helping others and she asked nothing in return. She was short in a stature but Vivian Chang had the heart of a giant." Her work untrimmed, she is gone. That great heart is stilled, but we remember Vivian Chang. It is to her memory this conference is dedicated. I think she would be pleased. Vol. 67, No. 3, May-June 1991
